Kurt Vonnegut: The Making of a Writer

4.5 rounded up; Despite not reading anything by [a:Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 2778055 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1433582280p2/2778055.jpg] or [a:Dan Wakefield 182983 Dan Wakefield https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1650187470p2/182983.jpg], I really enjoyed this biography! The second-person narrative with the integration of letters made the timeline much easier to understand and emotions to be delivered. I love the incorporation of the pictures and art of Vonnegut. Maybe because it's intended for YA/juveniles, it was really easy to read too. Excited to pick up books by both authors in the near future!

I recently read and loved [b:Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler 57994153 Star Child A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler Ibi Zoboi https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1629820486l/57994153.SY75.jpg 90883923], and I was at first skeptical of that one bc I was like, “why is there a middle grade biography of Octavia Butler when most readers that age won't be able to read any of Butler's books?” (I do think the book works anyway because the verse is lovely and Butler's life story is also an interesting micro-history of civil rights in the US, but anyway, enough about that book for now). But a biography of Kurt Vonnegut aimed at teens made sense to me because I was in high school when I first encountered (and loved) Vonnegut, and I think that still holds true for a lot of teens. And like Star Child, this is written in a unique style–in this the whole thing is written in 2nd person, which I think could have misfired easily but for me it really worked. I think it helped that Dan Wakefield was a friend of Vonnegut's, and went to the same high school as him, and was really able to pull off the familiar tone. And I think it focuses a lot on Vonnegut's teen and young adult years and the way those events shaped the whole rest of his life, in a way that I think works for teen audiences.But it's also great for adult readers too IMO! And I loved the heavy use of Vonnegut's letters and quotes from his earlier works. I love Vonnegut's writing for his sense of humor and humanity and all of that is on full display in this biography. Really great stuff.